1. Field of the Invention
The current invention relates to generator assembly and devices, including hand crank devices and accessories. In particular, the current invention relates to generators and devices relying on the rotation of a handle-rotator combination to power the generator or charge the device by a rotatably wielding motion, which may be triggered and maintained by manual forces or other power sources.
Nowadays, generators are used for widely used in everyday life and they are sometime important parts of certain devices. However, it is still desirable to improve how the generators are powered. One example for generators and devices using generators is a hand crank device. Hand crank power supplies, radios, cell phone chargers, flashlights, and many combinations thereof, are supplied and marketed as emergency or first response devices. These devices are usually equipped with a generator or dynamo with an external crank handle, allowing a user to rotate the handle to generate electricity, either to power the device directly or charge a rechargeable battery that serves as the direct power source. With a readily available power source, the hand crank devices may be very useful and reliable when the user is on the road and/or in emergency situations such as in natural disasters.
Although some of the hand crank devices are also equipped with solar power panels, the use of such design is limited due to the dependency on the weather and the location of the user. The crank handle design remains the most reliable source to provide power. Such design, in its normal form today, has a significant shortcoming that it is physically challenging and time consuming to operate. The hand crank rotary handles are usually short and hard to grab. The rotations require significant force that must be exerted manually by the user. With strenuous rotation, only a minimum amount of energy may be used to provide power to the device. In general, the available hand crank devices have rotary handle designs that are hard to operate, demand strenuous efforts, and take a long time to generate enough energy. The current invention aims to address these issues and other related problems with other devices using a traditional generator.
2. Descriptions of Related Arts
U.S. Pat. No. 7,239,237 discloses a hand crank apparatus comprising a housing, a rechargeable battery source for providing a first source of direct current, a hand-crank dynamo configured to replenish the rechargeable battery source, and a direct current input receptacle configured for receiving a second source of direct current are disposed and held in the housing. An electric circuit is disposed and held in the housing and is in electrical communication with the rechargeable battery source and the direct current input receptacle to receive direct current from the first source of direct current or the second source of direct current. A cell phone charger output jack, in electrical communication with the electric circuit, is disposed and held in the housing. A radio receiver, disposed and held in the housing and in electrical communication with the electric circuit. The hank crank apparatus also includes a crank handle that may be manually operated by a user to generate power for the apparatus.
The invention identified above, however, illustrates the problem that the hand crank rotary system is difficult to operate and the device requires strenuous efforts to charge. In addition to this apparatus, various other devices are known in the art, but their structures are distinctively different from the current invention. Moreover, the other inventions fail to address all of the problems solved by the invention described herein. Several embodiments of this invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be described in more detail herein below.